


This Is the Story of a Girl (Spoiler Alert: She Saves the Boy)

by ironmn



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Claudia Stilinski Feels, Multi, Tropes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 01:25:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/999223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironmn/pseuds/ironmn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In one world, Erica Reyes means absolutely nothing to you (don’t mention the fact that you mean absolutely fucking everything to her). In this world, your mom dies (your beautiful, amazing, wonderful mother) and the list of people you care about drops (you loved your mother and she died, but maybe you just didn’t love her enough). You have to limit the people you love so they won’t die too). It drops to exactly three people: your dad (who is trying so very h a r d, but has no idea what to do), Scotty (your best friend who has always been a better person that you have and thinks that everyone has good in them and things always work out), and Melissa (who always knows when you need someone to be a mom to you even when you sometimes hated her for being alive while your mother wasn’t). You can’t care about that shy, little, blond girl (no matter how pretty you think she is). This is not that world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Is the Story of a Girl (Spoiler Alert: She Saves the Boy)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoy. I'm on tumblr at whatyoulackmostisheart.  
> Also, lots of love to my awesome beta Kat (spookystisaac.tumblr.com)  
> This was one of the best prompts out there so thanks to whoever's idea it was and I hope you like it!

     There are so many different worlds out there. In one world, Scotty doesn’t get bitten, but you do. In that world, you fall ridiculously in love with Allison Argent and Scotty has sexual tension with Derek Hale, before they finally get together. In another world, you don’t realize werewolves exist and you spend ten years obsessing over Lydia Martin when you finally decide to give it up your senior year. Ironically, Lydia Martin ends up at Stanford and somewhere between group projects and coffee dates every Tuesday, you fall in love with her again (this time she falls in love with you). In the world after that(or is it before, because time isn’t linear, and worlds change all the time), you and Scotty are that obnoxious high school couple that’s been together forever and everyone hates and loves you at the same time. The world after that, you’re a wealthy businessman and Isaac Lahey is a hooker you pick up off the streets because he has the same look in his eyes Jackson had before you came home to find him with his wrists slit (and oh god, you miss Jackson, who you used to think loved absolutely no one, but now you know he loved too much and you wish he hadn’t loved anyone because then, at least, he’d still be alive) and somehow, over the course of two weeks, fall in love with him (it’s been five years since Jackson and even his parents tell you that it’s time to let go). In another world, the Hale fire never happened and Cora Hale is in your freshman psychology class and she gets tired of waiting for you to ask her out so she shoves you up against a bookcase and kisses you senseless to the applause of everyone in the library. In yet another world, you’re an orphaned, packless emissary living in New York when you meet Laura Hale and you fall in love with her brother, because you see so much of yourself in him and Derek might be stubborn and self-sacrificing, but he loves so much harder than people give him credit for. In yet another world, Danny Mahealani is the best IT guy at Hale, Argent, and Baccari and hot as hell, but you’ve got a huge crush on your best friend on tumblr, even though you’ll never meet him so it’s kind of hopeless. When you find out that they’re the same person, you’re about 99% certain your life is based on a romantic comedy script. In the last world, Vernon Boyd is another marine in your unit and you assume he’s just another straight boy (spoiler: he isn’t).

                                                                                                                                                ******************

     In one world, Erica Reyes means absolutely nothing to you (don’t mention the fact that you mean absolutely fucking everything to her). In this world, your mom dies (your beautiful, amazing, wonderful mother) and the list of people you care about drops (you loved your mother and she died, but maybe you just didn’t love her enough). You have to limit the people you love so they won’t die too). It drops to exactly three people: your dad (who is trying so very h a r d, but has no idea what to do), Scotty (your best friend who has always been a better person that you have and thinks that everyone has good in them and things always work out), and Melissa (who always knows when you need someone to be a mom to you even when you sometimes hated her for being alive while your mother wasn’t). You can’t care about that shy, little, blond girl (no matter how pretty you think she is). Then, Scotty turns into a fucking werewolf and your world goes to shit pretty damn fast. All Erica Reyes is to you then is someone you think about when you can’t deal with the darkness around your heart (beautiful, bold Erica who died in an abandoned bank vault and is now deep in the ground in the same place your mother is). (And seriously, fuck you very much Derek, because how dare you take advantage of a girl who just wanted to be happy, to not be made fun of. Of course she’s going to say yes, when you offer her something like the bite.)This is not that world.

                                                                                                                                           ********************

     You’re four years old when you meet Erica Reyes for the first time. You’re holding your mother’s hand and chattering to her about Batman as you walk to the park. She’s grinning down at you (Your mother never smiled, only grinned. Smiling was too controlled and calm while your mother was a hurricane of happiness and joy.) She sits down and shoos you off to go play with the other kids. You’re walking to the swings when you see a tiny blonde girl crying (later, you’ll remember that you thought she looked beautiful even though her eyes were rimmed with red). She says that she wants to be Catwoman, but nobody will be her Batman. The rest is history. (In another world, a blonde girl gets the words “So you want to play Catwoman? I’ll be your Batman” hissed at her and feels like her heart is about to break into pieces and resists the urge to burst into tears because this boy, this wonderful, sarcastic, loyal boy, will never, ever love her like she loves him)

                                                                                                                                           ********************

     Your mother dies when you are eight years old. You are with her when it happens and your father is not. It wasn’t a surprise, she’d been fighting the cancer oh so long and it must have been somewhat peaceful to finally let go. Those are the cold, hard facts. Those facts don’t even begin to explain how lost you felt without her. Your father loves you (he does, you know it, but if he loves you why won’t he ever look at you anymore, why is he always drinking and drinking, why does Scotty’s dad keep making those awful remarks (and this is where you first start hating Rafael McCall and the hate just grows and grows from there), why doesn’t he realize that you lost her too). Erica keeps trying to talk to you and you keep pushing her away (because you are only eight years old and you loved your mom so much, but she died. Part of you wonders if it’s your fault, if everyone you love is going to die, and you love Erica in that innocent way that children love each other, the kind of love that hasn’t learned how to be selfish or cruel, the kind of love that doesn’t know how to break someone’s heart yet). You’re miserable and lonely and scared and have absolutely no idea what you’re supposed to do. It’s alright though, because your mom was wonderful and genius and knew you better than anyone in the world will ever know you. There’s a box full of envelopes in the colors of the rainbow in your closet that she left you (you don’t know this, but there’s a box full of letters in your dad’s closet and one of those will end up giving you your happy ending and the fact that it’s because of your mom surprises absolutely no one). So you depend on your mom’s letters and they get you through it (it’s not like your happy because you can’t remember what being happy feels like, but you’re on the road to happiness and Erica is holding your right hand and Scotty is holding your left and you feel like you’re on top of the world). So, because fate is kind of a bitch, this is when everything changes. See, your dad has no idea what he’s doing either and he still stays in the room he used to share with the wife he loved more than anything (until you came along, that is) and it’s driving him up the wall So, he opens up the letter labeled “When You’re Going Crazy” and reads it (ástin mín, when you think you’re going crazy, first of all breathe. This, like all things, will pass. Everything does in time. Let go of your grief elskan. First of all, if you’re still living in our house- leave. Go anywhere, do anything, just don’t stay there. How do you expect yourself to learn to be happy again, how do you expect our son to be happy again, if you’re surrounded by the memory of me? Just be happy. ást, Claudia) and he decides to move. So you pack up and tell Scotty goodbye and hug Melissa (you save Erica for last because you don’t know how you’re going to say goodbye to her, not when she was the one he reminded you that your mom would have hated for you to be sad, that she would have wanted you to smile and laugh). Erica cries when you tell her you’re leaving and you promise that you’ll write to her every single day and you’ll n e v e r forget her (but promises are easily broken, especially in a new town, where you and your Dad learn how to be happy again).

                                                                                                                                        ********************

     Erica’s eleven when she has her first seizure. You wouldn’t even know if not for the fact that her mom calls your dad in hysterics, crying about how she has no idea what she’s supposed to do (Erica’s mom had always been awesome, always willing to fight battles for her daughter, but this is one war she can’t win for Erica, no matter how hard she tries). Your dad sits you down and tells you and you just nod (you know what epilepsy is of course from your late nights spent on Wikipedia). You call Erica as soon as you possibly can and it’s the most awkward phone call of your life (the fact is that you and Erica aren’t best friends anymore and you don’t know when that happened, but it did. Your lives are so different and you can’t really remember how it used to be). She won’t really talk to you, but that’s okay (you know that sometimes talking doesn’t do shit, that you have to show you care). You don’t have many talents, but one thing you do have is your research prowess (there are endless nights where you google all you can find about epilepsy) and you send her things that would make her smile, make her realize that this doesn’t rule her life. You’re not best friends, but you aren’t strangers anymore either. By the time you’re thirteen, it’s like you never left because she’s your best friend again. The year you turn fifteen and she turns fourteen is a big one for both of you. She’s the first person you tell when you realize you’re bisexual (which, to be honest, didn’t come as much of a shock as anyone considering how many times you’ve asked Michael if he finds you attractive). She talks you through telling your dad (you don’t know why you were so scared because it doesn’t fucking matter to him, he’ll always love you). You open another one of your mom’s letters that year (Elskan, if you’re reading this you have just come out to your father. Right now, you’re probably beating yourself up for being worried about it. Don’t. This is the bravest thing you could have possibly done and I want you to know, no matter what you revealed, I am so very proud of you. At the same time, I feel like crying because I don’t get to see this- do you like boys or girls or both or everyone in-between? Do you like to wear pants or skirts or both? Do you wear makeup or not? Are you a boy during one part of the day and a girl during the other? No matter what you choose, I love you so very much. There are just two things I want you to remember. First, be safe. If you aren’t, I will know and don’t think for a moment that I won’t come down there and haunt your ass for eternity. Seriously, baby, think of all those diseases you could catch and I really doubt your dad wants to be “Grandpa Sheriff” yet. Let’s save it for a while, baby. Second, you have the right to say no when you aren’t comfortable with something. Whisper it or shout it, do whatever it takes. Say it in Spanish if you have to. No. Don’t ever let someone make you feel guilty for not being ready for something baby. If they do, just know your dad will “go pistol whip the little bastards”. Now, go jerk off or something sweetheart. That’ll get your mind of the more serious issues- cause, really who needs them anyway?) So while the year is pretty fucking fantastic for you, it’s one of the worst for Erica. She has a seizure in class and some asshole called Jackson Whittemore (you remember him, little blonde brat who always thought he was better than everyone else, but for some strange reason was friends with Danny Mahealani who was the nicest person in the universe) films it and posts it online. (In another world, Erica Reyes is secretly glad Jackson is the kanima because now he knows exactly what it’s like to suffer from something beyond his control). Erica is miserable and calls you crying the first time she sees the video (“I never knew what I looked like during a seizure, but now I do. I look like a f r e a k) and no matter what you say she doesn’t believe you. Six months later, there’s an email waiting for you filled with her hate and anger and sadness telling you to never call or email or text her again (“I don’t need your fucking pity Stiles, not anymore. I’m bigger and better than that now. I don’t need you, I don’t need anyone!) and you’ve lost your best friend for the second time (except, you don’t think you’re going to get her back this time)

*******************

     It’s not like you’re unhappy here, in this town that is not Beacon Hills. You’ve got friends, plenty of them. There’s Nikki, who is quite possibly the most terrifying girl you’ve ever met. She’s from Mexico and starts cursing in Spanish when someone pisses her off. You went to SlutWalk with her once where you personally saw her verbally eviscerate at total of five assholes. She was the first girl you kissed (but not the last- that honor belongs to another bold, brilliant, beautiful girl except you’ve known this one almost all your life). There’s Michael, who helped you realize you were bi (“Stiles, you think boys and girls are hot as hell. Please, please, stop asking me if I find you attractive and accept the gay in you!”) and works his ass off so he can get into Harvard (“Who needs Harvard anyway? You should become a hooker and find yourself a Richard Gere, you’re certainly hot enough for it to work… NIKKI!!! Shut the fuck up before my parents hear you! You say that like she gives a shit, Michael… Stiles, stop defending her!”). There’s Josh, Nikki’s older brother, whose eighteen, going to the Police Academy, and was the guy you lost your virginity to (Nikki almost killed him when she found out that little bit of information, before you managed to get her to believe you didn’t w a n t a relationship). When you’re seventeen though (six months, one week, and five days since Erica told you she never wanted to talk to you again and you lost a little bit of yourself) your dad tells you that you’re moving back to Beacon Hills (“It’s time Stiles. We’ve both been running away for too long. Beacon Hills is always going to be our home, no matter how far we run. It would make your mom so happy if went home). You’re not really upset (I’ll get to see Erica again and I’ll find out what happened and we’ll be okay and she won’t be alone anymore) so you go drinking with Nikki, play video games with Michael, and fuck Josh one last time (you’re not a fan of sweet, sentimental goodbyes anymore- they never did anything for you) and you’re off.

*******************

     Rolling into Beacon Hills, you know you should feel something (you don’t because what the fuck did this town ever do for you except take away the people you love and you have a b s o l u t e l y no idea why your dad wants to come back here). Your dad pulls into the driveway of your old house (where your mom lived, where she was happy and beautiful and oh so alive) and you only last two hours of unpacking before you’re jumping up, babbling something about going grocery shopping (there are two things that stay the same, no matter what world you’re in: your mom always dies and you always try to get you dad to eat healthier). You’re in the vegetable aisle when someone calls you name and suddenly you’re being tackled (normal people would probably freak out, but you’d know that crooked jaw anywhere). It’s been a long time since you’ve seen Scotty, but he still reminds you of a puppy. However, the hottie with the leather jacket, pretty boy eyes, and stubble standing next to him, is everything but puppyish. (Ten minutes later, his girlfriend walks up with a sweet smile and introduces herself as Paige and that’s that. You cross “fuck Derek Hale” off your to-do list and move on to becoming slightly antagonistic bros. After all, he is Scott’s stepbrother and there are lines even you don’t cross (Honestly, Paige is your favorite because she doesn’t put up with anybody’s shit)). By the time you start school the next week, it’s almost like you never left when it comes to Scott. You meet his girlfriend, Allison (who’s sweet and pretty and can do things with a bow you’re pretty sure Hawkeye couldn’t do), her best friend, Lydia (and oh, you remember Lydia. You had the hugest crush on Lydia, but things have changed and she becomes one of your best friends), and Lydia’s boyfriend, Aiden (he’s a bit of a douchebag, but he adores Lydia and worships the ground she walks on). You meet Aiden’s twin, Ethan who’s dating Danny (and you would have to be oblivious to not see how much Ethan loves Danny. You think that if someone asked Ethan to die in order to save Danny, he’d do it without thinking.) It’s when you walk into lunch that you see her (Erica, wearing a bustier and leather with a red lipstick smirk, laughing with a boy with curly hair and the sharpest cheekbones you’ve ever seen and another boy who looks likes the most expression he ever shows is the raise of an eyebrow). Scotty fills you in one what happened, with Allison interjecting softly (“We don’t know what happened, she had a seizure and went to the hospital and came back the next day looking like that. She started hanging out with Boyd and Isaac. I’m really sorry man.”), but you aren’t stupid and know when you’re being lied to and this is one of those times. So you pretend that you believe Scott and that everything is perfectly fine and Erica ignoring you and not talking to you doesn’t affect you at all.

     *******************

     You never really learned about giving up so when you see Erica in the hallway, of course you go and talk to her (she’s been your best friend forever and if she thinks yelling at you is going to change that then she has obviously been taking the crazy pills). Okay, you get the fact you’re 147 pounds of pale skin and fragile bone( you aren’t actually being sarcastic when you say sarcasm is your only defense), but Erica should not be able to shove you into a wall so easily (and what has happened to her because Erica was always so fucking full of love, but the douchebags at this hellhole never realized it and know your best friend is gone from you forever (except she was always more than your best friend, but you’re just now r e a l i z i n g it)). This girl, this girl who shoves the fact that she’s beautiful into your face and makes everything about sex (“Erica, maybe you shouldn’t make everything about sex.” “Don’t be fucking stupid Isaac, sex is power.”) has no resemblance to the girl you’re in love with (“Who’s the blond chick? That’s Erica, she’s my best friend. She’s beautiful, y’know. More gorgeous than you can i m a g i n e Nikki.”) and, God, you wish that you’d realized it sooner because then, just maybe, you could have stopped this (you wouldn’t care as long as she was happy, but you know Erica, know her in the depths of your bones, and this, this girl is not happy). A week later, the boy with sharp cheekbones stops you and tells you to keep trying because she’s still in love with you, she just doesn’t want to admit it and she doesn’t know how to tell you what happened. Which, yeah that’s wonderful and all, but you don’t hold on to things (the last thing you tried holding on to was your mom and look how well that turned out. You’re many things: loyal, stubborn, a genius, bisexual (but you aren’t brave enough to fight for the girl you love, not brave enough to actually tell her you’re in love with here). See, the thing is, you could tell Erica you love her and one of three things could happen. She could not love you anymore (it hurts a lot to love someone for years and years when they don’t feel the same way or they don’t realize they feel the same way and Erica went through it. You wouldn’t blame her for moving on), or she could love you for a little while and then change her mind (and oh, how t e r r i b l y that would hurt) or she could love you, but end up dying (you know that everyone dies eventually, but after you watched your mother slowly die you swore to yourself that you would never watch someone that you love die again).

**************

     You’re eighteen years old when you find out that the girl you love as well as Scotty, Aiden, Ethan, Isaac, Boyd, and all of the Hales are werewolves. The Hales are fucking werewolves. Derek, Laura (Laura who is a rebel, and sarcastic, and awesome is also apparently an alpha werewolf, whatever the fuck that means), and Peter (creepy Uncle Peter who is caustic as one can be, but still treats Melissa like she’s a queen, treats her like she deserves to be treated. Peter, who knocked out Rafael McCall when he came back around and tried to treat Melissa and Scott like shit again, is not the person you though he was) are something that you don’t even recognize anymore because every single one of them l i e d to you and how are you supposed to forgive them all for that. You don’t remember much of what happened that night (you remember a man with claws and fangs rushing at you and Lyds. You remember Aiden and Erica will glowing yellow eyes jumping in front of the both of you. You remember Laura slashing the man’s throat, her crimson eyes and loud roar echoing through your mind as you run through the forest, run far far away from all of them). It’s Paige who finds you because she, out of all of them, understands how you feel (Paige had dated Derek for three years before she found out what he was and she kicked him out when he told here. He had lied to her! Every moment of all the time they had spent together, he had been lying to her through it. She was so heartbroken, and angry, and betrayed she didn’t even know what to do with herself. She didn’t think she could ever forgive him (but it was Derek Hale, Derek who she’d been in love with for as long as she could remember, probably longer. She loved Derek so much and she could remember how happy he used to be before hunters killed his family. And, really, she and Laura were the only ones who could still make him smile and she didn’t want to give up on that. So, she forgave him and it was hard, but she did it anyway because when you love someone you forgive them for things they did, even when they break your heart into pieces. You forgive them because they might have been the one to break it, but they’re also the only ones who can fix your heart.), but she managed and she thinks you can forgive Erica too. Allison finds you next and tells you how she thought that she and Scott would never end up together (how could they when he was a werewolf and she was a hunter and werewolf had murdered her mother? She wasn’t Juliet, he wasn’t Romeo, and neither one of them b e l i e v e d in fairytales any longer. But they made it, somehow, someway the ended up together. (“Stiles, you’re my friend and I don’t want to see you throw away a chance of happiness because Erica couldn’t figure out how to tell you and you both were too stubborn to say the word love). They’re both right and you realize that. So you pick up some white roses (white roses are Erica’s favorite flower because they’re so beautiful and simple at the same time) and some pebbles and go stand beneath her window. You throw the pebbles until she comes to the window and then you state the most embarrassing speech of your life (“I’m in love with you, Erica Reyes, and I always will be. Nothing can possibly change that; even finding out that werewolves exist and you are one can’t change that. I know I’ve been a giant dumbass, but please tell me I haven’t royally fucked everything up.”). Erica’s fucking fierce so of course she just jumps out of the window like it’s no big deal, like it’s something everybody does. (“Stiles shut the fuck up and don’t be idiotic. Nothing you ever do could make me stop loving you and I can’t believe you even thought that was a possibility.”) Kissing in the rain is so cliché (spoiler: you do it anyway).

******************

     You’re still eighteen years old when you and Erica have sex for the first time (and it is fucking a m a z i n g). You are most certainly not a virgin (and Josh was a damn good lay, but sweet mother of Jesus Erica is fantastic). Your girl has always been a she-wolf, even before she actually was bitten (but it seems like you’re the only one who realizes it, but that’s okay. You are completely happy being the only one who really knows Erica). You’re completely content to let Erica take charge, to make sure she’s happy. The two of you fuck, you don’t make love (or whatever sappy, romantic bullshit that Allison and Scott do). People seem to think that fucking means you don’t love each other that you hate each other or don’t really care about the other person, but that just isn’t true. Sometimes, fucking just means you’re strong, that you’re a survivor, that you aren’t fragile or delicate, that you’re strong. You have never been as happy as you are when after round number five (at least, you think that’s what it was. You can’t really think because of how f a n t a s t i c you feel) you whisper “I love you for forever and a day” to Erica and you can feel her smile without having to see it.

*****************

     There’s a letter in the back of your closet that you never find (it doesn’t matter what universe you’re in, who you end up with, that letter always sits alone.) Your mother spent so much time on that letter, agonized over what to say, cried over it, and laughed over it (sometimes, reading something like that takes away some of the magic. Sometimes, it makes it normal, ordinary. Maybe, just maybe, that’s why you never can find it). The letter is titled “When You Fall in Love” and if you ever read it you wouldn’t be able to stop crying (Baby, when you fall in love you won’t need anyone to tell you because you’ll know. Falling in love is such an obvious feeling. You’ll feel like you’re flying and drowning at the same time and you won’t understand how one single person can make you feel all these things, but they’ll be able to without even trying. Everything they do will be wonderful or stupid or both at the same time. Love the little things because that’s what makes them who they are (that’s why you love them so damn much). Baby boy, sometimes you’ll hear them laugh or see them laugh and not even be able to breathe. Embrace it darling, because they will be the person who knows you, the only person who truly knows you. They will be the one person who can always help you remember how to breathe. Just promise me one thing, baby. When you find the one, bring them to the graveyard (I know, I know. It’s a morbid thought. It gets better, keep reading.). Introduce them to me, tell me all about them. Tell me what they love, what they hate, what they do that annoys you. Tell me everything. I want to know the person who you love. Tell them about me baby. Tell them how much I would have loved them, no matter what they were like simply because they loved my darling boy. Remember, I love you so much and I always will. Death can’t change that.)


End file.
